'Greatly compromised:' Lawmakers see major security hole after 15 suspected terrorists cross border

Lawmakers in Congress are sounding alarm after 15 illegal migrants with suspected terrorists ties were caught crossing the border in a single month, raising worries that some might eventually reach the stage of launching an attack.

"Our national security is greatly compromised, with an open border and simply the unwillingness of the Biden administration to do anything about it, other than just continue to incentivize more and more of it," Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, told Just the News after Customs and Border Protection released May statistics showing the 15 migrants with terrorism flags.

Rep, Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., said border agents are increasingly overwhelmed processing the nearly quarter million illegal migrants who are crossing monthly and that means more dangerous players are sneaking across perilously undetected. 

"You have probably 80,000 to 100,000 people coming into the country that we don't interact with, we don't we see them, we don't stop them," Biggs told Just the News. "And others we never even seen, most of those people are the bad guys and bad ladies. They're coming in camo they've got carpet shoes, they've got backpacks on. It is a huge security threat.

Biggs said the undetected migrants are trafficking drugs like fentanyl and humans for sex.

"They're getting in because our border patrol can't even patrol the border because they're so busy processing," he said. 

Rep. Mary Miller, an Illinois Republican, said bad actors are making their way from the border to middle America to take advantage of sanctuary cities like Chicago, expanding the threat of violence, drug running and other crimes far from the border states.

"The Biden administration has advertised and facilitated this invasion," she said last week. "...Some of these countries are emptying their jails and prisons and sending them up here. The cartels have totally taken control of our border."

Border Patrol agents at the U.S. southern border apprehended 15 people in May who were on the FBI's terrorist watchlist, an all-time monthly record and equal to the total number apprehended the previous year.

Last month, federal prosecutors revealed that they had caught an Iraqi man attempting to carry out an assassination attempt on former President George W. Bush's life. The man said he was planning to bring an ISIS hit squad into the country via the southern border.

At the time, Trump administration CBP director Mark Morgan said, "I’m concerned that the next terrorist attacker is already in the United States because of this administration’s open border policies," citing the "legitimate national security vulnerability on our southern border."

"While DHS has accounted for 50 individuals found on the terror watchlist attempting to enter the country just this year, recent reports of the staggering number of known 'got-aways' would indicate that we cannot be certain exactly how many watch-listed individuals have entered the United States amidst the chaos at our southwest border," retiring Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.) told the Washington Times.

Babin said he suspects Democrats have an electoral strategy that is willing to risk terrorism to allow more migrants to cross the border.

"Their whole strategy is to keep the border open and bring as many millions and millions of illegal aliens across, put them on a path to enfranchise them with a vote. And then they will have a perpetual majority," he said. "This is what is happening. I think the American people are waking up and seeing that it's true."